Please welcome our new pet skunk...wait, our new holstein cow, wait, our new lamb?

[soarwitheagles]

Thank you for the feedback everyone!

We are still weighing the pros and cons of each name!

We have have some more good news...

Massive rains have been hitting us for several days. Models are showing 150%-200% of snow pack in the high Sierra's after tomorrow's storm...so this is making a significant dent in California's longest and most severe drought in recorded history.

Unfortunately, we had some significant flooding here. No joke, a river ran right through our large AG building for 3 days in a row. We moved here in the middle of the drought, so had no clue what unusually high levels or rainfall would bring...come spring time, we will need to build hundreds of feet of berms...

The sheep will not stay in their stable...they have been out all day in the rain eating to their hearts content. Our little new born sheep is quite the trooper...she follows mama and the rest of the flock all day long, and doesn't look like a wet rug rat like some of the American Blackbelly lambs do.

Our 6"-12" stream/brook has turned into a raging stream at over 100 gallons per second.

Bad news: Dry Creek, just down the road crested over the top. Yesterday I saw my neighbor rancher's 100+ animals out in his pasture at 4pm. Dry Creek blew out last last night. Early this morning, his entire grazing area of hundreds of acres was under what appeared to be 5-6 feet of water. All nearby roads are now closed. And all his animals were nowhere to be seen...I sure hope he did not lose all his animals...

Dry Creek which is normally a dry creek bed or 4-5 feet wide and super shallow was 40+ feet wide, 15+ feet deep, and running 30-40 miles per hour. It overflowed the banks all night long. I told my other neighbor with sheep that he needs to choose his best male and female sheep of each of his breeds and build an ark if it keeps raining this much!

Last, we have 5-6 ewes that have suddenly filled their udders in the last 24 hours. Birthing time is here...right in the middle of this, um, blessing [or mess, depending upon your perspective].

What an udderly exciting winter...

To be continued...

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Now we just gotta get everybody to move to northeast Texas.....

LOL!

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Congrats on the cute lamb!

 

[babsbag]

WOW to Dry Creek, I know that area...I sure do pray that your neighbors animals made it to safety, horrible thing to have happen if they didn't. Please let us know when you hear any news. As much as I curse our hillside of a homestead, it doesn't flood. We may lose our road but I won't lose our house, at least not to flooding. Everything is downhill from me.

Exciting about my lambs being on their way soon. Hope it all goes well.

 

[Sheepshape]

Oh....I DO hope you and Moo/Skunk/Whatever, the rest of your pregnant girlies and your poor neighbours are surviving in Wet Creek. Sheep are good at moving themselves to higher ground when flooding happens, but this does depend upon access to higher ground, of course. I understand they can also swim for short distances, but flash floods move at such a rate.

Intermittent field flooding is pretty much the rule here during the winter (improved over the last 2 years have we have done work on drainage), but we've got heavy snow/rain (usually snow at the altitude I live) forecast as from today.

Sending my best wishes for your biblical rains to stop.

 

[Baymule]

Hope your neighbors animals made it to higher ground. Keep all yours close in, in case of emergency. Are you on high ground?

 

[CntryBoy777]

The little ewe is just Darling!! If it were mine I'd name her Patches, she has white "Patches" all over, head to tail.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Congrats on the cute lamb!

Thank you!

WOW to Dry Creek, I know that area...I sure do pray that your neighbors animals made it to safety, horrible thing to have happen if they didn't. Please let us know when you hear any news. As much as I curse our hillside of a homestead, it doesn't flood. We may lose our road but I won't lose our house, at least not to flooding. Everything is downhill from me.

Exciting about my lambs being on their way soon. Hope it all goes well.

babs,

Congrats on your soon to be born lambs! And nice to hear about your high ground! The neighbor's animals all made it to higher ground [I saw them this afternoon]. I thought he lost all of them. I still am not sure how he moved them in the middle of the night, just before the river crested. Dry Creek is back within her river banks...so the worst is over for now.

Many of our ewes have filled their udders to the full. I believe we will have 10-14 lambs within the next 7 days. I will do my best to post pics.

Oh....I DO hope you and Moo/Skunk/Whatever, the rest of your pregnant girlies and your poor neighbours are surviving in Wet Creek. Sheep are good at moving themselves to higher ground when flooding happens, but this does depend upon access to higher ground, of course. I understand they can also swim for short distances, but flash floods move at such a rate.

Intermittent field flooding is pretty much the rule here during the winter (improved over the last 2 years have we have done work on drainage), but we've got heavy snow/rain (usually snow at the altitude I live) forecast as from today.

Sending my best wishes for your biblical rains to stop.

Hi Sheepshape! Thanks for your post. So far, all have survived. I had thought we lost our little Moo Moo, but found her sleeping under a tarp after looking for over 30 minutes...that sure was a stressful search. I thought she was either eaten be a coyote or washed away in the flash flood. And yes, it was a flash flood. I have never seen our little brook turn into a 100 gallon a second loud raging stream before...and it remained that way for over a day.

BTW, where do you live?

Hope your neighbors animals made it to higher ground. Keep all yours close in, in case of emergency. Are you on high ground?

Bay, we are in the flatlands...and are vulnerable to flooding. I found a pond in our forest that measures 100+ feet by 40 feet and is still over 6 feet deep. I have never seen it fill more than a few inches since we moved here 3.5 years ago. Our driveway had nearly 3 feet of water and most of the property now is no longer drive-able. Tractor work is completely out of the question for the next 3-4 months. Even my attempt at riding through the forest on a bicycle was unsuccessful. Everything has become super saturated...similar to a swamp.

I saw all the neighbor's animals today and his pasture is back down to only inches of water whereas two days ago it appeared to be 6-8 feet of water. Dry Creek is within her banks again.

The little ewe is just Darling!! If it were mine I'd name her Patches, she has white "Patches" all over, head to tail.

CntryBoy777, I like that name...Patches seems so fitting! Our neighbors daughters were in such shock and awe when they saw the new little lamb. They both told me it really looks like a cow, and they really liked the name Moo Moo. Their faces lit up like light bulbs when I asked if Moo Moo was a good name for the lamb. So Moo Moo is the lambs new name. Our other Dorper should have her baby/babies within the next couple of days. We are hoping it will be just as unique and can't wait to find an appropriate name for her too.

Our flash flood war zone is now a soon-to-be maternity ward/neonatal unit.

Now I need to complete that hoop house for all the pregnant ewes and new borns. BTW, all the sheep chose to remain outside during even the violent parts of the storm. They ate down massive areas and now look like pigs. I hope I did not let them eat too much...I was warned about letting them get too big because this can lead to breach birth especially with the American Blackbelly. We do not want that!

Thanks again everyone for your help in sharing different names...

Will post more pics soon.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Glad to hear it has subsided out there for ya, and the neighbors were okay with their animals. Moo Moo is fitting too. Hope ya got a full tank of Oxygen there, ya just might need a few wiffs between the Birthings.

 

[babsbag]

Glad to hear that your neighbor got his animals out OK. I have seen pictures of flooded barnyards and it just breaks my heart to see how terrified the animals are. That pond sounds pretty impressive. All I can think about with all this rain is all the flowers for the bees.